7 issues your subsequent telephone wants if you’d like it to final for years

Most individuals are now not upgrading their Android telephones each two years. It’s now the norm for shoppers to switch their gadgets each three or 4 years. It additionally doesn’t harm that carriers have embraced 36-month and even 48-month contracts.

As such, I completely perceive should you’re shopping for a telephone with the intention of protecting it for 3 or extra years. However earlier than you set your cash down or signal that contract, I’ve bought some ideas to remember if you wish to purchase a telephone that may final for years and years.

My first tip when shopping for a smartphone for the lengthy haul is to make sure it has a protracted replace coverage. Because of this the telephone will obtain software program upgrades for a few years to return, bringing new options and protecting the gadget safe.

Google, Samsung, and HONOR’s top-end telephones all supply seven years of OS and safety upgrades, making these one of the best performers on this regard. In the meantime, high-end telephones from the likes of Xiaomi and OnePlus typically include 4 main OS upgrades and 6 years of safety patches. On the opposite finish of the spectrum, low cost Motorola telephones often solely get two OS updates and three years of safety patches.

In different phrases, should you plan to maintain an inexpensive Motorola telephone for 5 years, it is going to cease receiving updates simply after the halfway level. This implies your gadget received’t be protected towards newfound vulnerabilities. The dearth of Android OS upgrades after two years additionally means you received’t obtain many new options down the road.

All smartphone batteries degrade over time, successfully dropping 20% of their capability after a set variety of charging cycles. It’s why your new telephone lasts for ages in comparison with the identical telephone two or three years later. Nonetheless, telephone batteries don’t degrade on the similar charge.

Some telephones have batteries rated for 800 charging cycles (i.e., roughly two years) earlier than they’ve primarily misplaced 20% capability. Google and Apple’s telephones are rated for 1,000 charging cycles. Samsung is the highest canine, although, as its flagship telephones are rated for two,000 cycles (greater than 4 years) earlier than successfully dropping 20%. Which means should you’ve bought a Samsung telephone and a Pixel gadget with the identical battery capability, the Pixel will see a extra extreme drop in battery life after a couple of years.

For sure, it is best to test what number of charging cycles your subsequent telephone is rated for should you don’t need its battery life to fall off a cliff after a few years. Producers typically publish this information on their product pages, however they will also be cagey about it. I’d additionally suggest you go to the EU’s EPREL database to search out these particulars.

There’s extra to a smartphone’s long-term battery life than charging cycles, although. The precise battery capability additionally performs a significant function if you wish to preserve a telephone for ages. In spite of everything, who cares if the telephone’s battery ages very slowly when it’s a small battery capability anyway?

I’d suggest shopping for a telephone with a big battery (5,000mAh or larger), as this softens the blow of degradation. A telephone with an average-sized battery will successfully flip into a tool with a small battery owing to that ~20% capability loss over time. Nonetheless, a telephone with a big battery will flip into one with an average-sized battery.

In fact, you ideally desire a telephone with each an enormous battery and sluggish degradation. However an enormous battery might help offset typical degradation. Moreover, a telephone with a big battery doesn’t should be charged as typically as one with a small battery, so it received’t accrue charging cycles as shortly. Nonetheless, even a telephone with a giant battery will see a noticeable decline in endurance after 5 or 6 years.

You’ll accrue a ton of recordsdata as you utilize your telephone over time. This contains pictures, movies, paperwork, downloaded podcasts, offline music playlists, and WhatsApp-related information. I due to this fact suggest shopping for a telephone with loads of storage should you plan to maintain it for the long term. This fashion, you’re unlikely to expire of storage after a yr or two. It additionally means you don’t need to consistently clear up recordsdata to claw again house.

I’d counsel shopping for a telephone with at the very least 256GB of storage in 2026, as 128GB can replenish fairly shortly with captured media, downloaded music, and extra. The excellent news is that the newest flagship telephones from Apple, Samsung, and most Chinese language manufacturers supply 256GB of base storage. Nonetheless, Google’s Pixel telephones and lots of mid-range gadgets nonetheless begin at simply 128GB. This isn’t dangerous should you don’t use the digicam a lot, or should you continuously offload pictures and movies to cloud storage, nevertheless it’s higher to be secure than sorry.

Another choice is to discover a telephone with a built-in microSD card slot, permitting you to develop your storage with a reminiscence card. Sadly, this characteristic is basically restricted to finances Android telephones and Sony’s high-end Xperia gadgets.

Many smartphones decelerate over time, so it’s price contemplating a telephone that has good efficiency. As a result of very like battery degradation, a telephone with mediocre efficiency on day one is perhaps a stuttering mess 4 or 5 years later. However a telephone with good efficiency out of the field ought to nonetheless be comparatively clean, or at the very least passable, down the road. The large distinction is that you may at all times substitute your battery, however you may’t substitute your telephone’s processor.

Moreover, producers and Google consistently carry new options to their telephones with every main replace. A few of these options require a comparatively highly effective telephone, leaving you within the lurch in case your gadget has no horsepower. You must also think about gadget efficiency should you’re a cell gamer, as a telephone with disappointing efficiency in 2026 is much less more likely to assist probably the most demanding video games a couple of years from now. My rule of thumb is to purchase telephones with Snapdragon 8 sequence chips, latest Snapdragon 7 sequence processors, Dimensity 8000 or 9000 chips, Samsung’s Exynos 2×00 sequence, or Google’s Tensor line.

Some Chinese language manufacturers like OPPO, vivo, and OnePlus additionally make attention-grabbing claims about long-term efficiency. For instance, OnePlus asserts that the Nord CE 6 Lite will preserve its smoothness for 5 years, whereas vivo made the identical declare for its V50. I think about that if these telephones have middling efficiency on day one, this promise simply means they’ll have the identical middling efficiency 5 years from now. I’d nonetheless prioritize a very good chip and an honest quantity of RAM (8GB or extra) over these claims, although. But it surely’s one thing else to remember if you wish to preserve your telephone for 3 or extra years.

One other essential consideration is the telephone’s sturdiness. In spite of everything, you don’t need your new gadget to interrupt after its first drop. There are a number of durability-related elements price figuring out.

Maybe an important consideration is the kind of protecting glass on the telephone’s show. Gorilla Glass is the most well-liked protecting glass resolution available on the market, however there are numerous variations. Some low cost telephones use previous Gorilla Glass variations (i.e., Gorilla Glass 3), however it is best to actually search for the Gorilla Glass Victus sequence and Gorilla Glass 7i if you’d like extra sturdy safety. A number of the most sturdy telephones available on the market use ceramic-based protecting glass, corresponding to Gorilla Glass Ceramic, HONOR NanoCrystal Defend, and Gorilla Armor, for improved scratch resistance. Does the telephone you’re eyeing have a glass again? Then you definitely must also guarantee that the rear cowl is protected by Gorilla Glass.

You must also test your telephone’s IP ranking, which is expressed as two digits (e.g., IP53, IP68). The primary digit refers to mud resistance, whereas the second refers to freshwater resistance. Which means a telephone with an IP53 ranking can resist mud and splashes however can’t be dunked in water. In the meantime, a telephone with an IP67 ranking or larger is sealed towards mud and might be immersed in water. Some telephones don’t have distinguished IP scores in any respect, however may need “water-repellent” designs. Translation: You possibly can most likely use the telephone within the rain, however that’s it.

One other key tip when shopping for a telephone for long-term utilization is to guarantee that repairs received’t be an issue. Telephones formally offered in your nation will typically have official or licensed restore facilities, nevertheless it’s a good suggestion to double-check this.

In the event you don’t thoughts DIY repairs, it is best to learn the way simple it’s to restore your future smartphone. The iFixit platform typically posts written articles and movies detailing a telephone’s repairability, full with a rating out of 10. The JerryRigEverything and PBKReviews YouTube channels additionally ship nice teardown movies. In any other case, Fairphone is the undisputed king of repairable telephones, whereas HMD has additionally launched a couple of repairable telephones within the final couple of years.

Even should you don’t plan to repair your individual telephone, it is best to nonetheless learn the way simple it’s to get spare components in your potential telephone. Some manufacturers promote spare components by way of their web site or restore facilities, whereas others may accomplice with iFixit. The likes of Google and Samsung each promote spare components within the US, with Google additionally confirming it’ll supply them for seven years, matching their telephone replace coverage. That’s excellent news and means you received’t be left within the lurch should you want a brand new display screen or battery 5 years from now. This additionally means you should purchase spare components after which take each the components and your damaged telephone to an alternate restore retailer should you’d like.